Memory
by sea kelp
Summary: obviously the words 'i couldn't forget you even if I wanted to,' have no significance to you · for caitlan


**memory**  
_"i couldn't forget you even if i wanted to."_

**---**

You follow Leon, a frown etched on your face as you grip your shuriken tight in your hand. It's freezing out, and you can't help but think that your usual ninja attire won't do any good these days. That's just the cold making you talk though, because your outfit really wouldn't even be a problem in the first place if it weren't for Aerith. She had told you and Squall to look into things around town for the evening, and you didn't really understand why at the time. Heartless patrol didn't begin until it was much later, didn't it? Aerith just sighed and said to do it because she sensed something gravely uncanny, whatever the heck that means. You finally decide to ask to get your mind off of the cold, but Squall just boringly explains to you that uncanny means eerie, weird, or supernatural or whatever, and you make a face. It's still the cold that's on your mind, and his explanation didn't really help clear up anything at all. After all, what could possibly be 'uncanny' in Traverse Town besides the endless waves of Heartless?

You figure Aerith was right though, because all of a sudden there's a simple-minded dog and a squabbling duck and a bristly haired boy standing right before you, and they're calling _Yuffie! _and _Leon! _but neither of you know who the heck they are. They have you thinking, _wow, me and Squall must be really popular around town!_ but they only know you because you fought the Heartless and helped saved the worlds together with him. You don't know that though, because you've never met this guy or this dog or this duck — they're all total strangers— and the worlds are still in trouble, at least in your eyes.

This is about as uncanny as it can get.

You can tell this stranger is really hurt for some reason or whatever, because his frown is deep and his eyes are dark and wait, is his voice cracking? You can't really tell, but what you can tell is that he's utterly confused. Heck, every single one of you guys are. Your eyebrows are raised, unconvinced as you watch that oddball dog and that weirdo duck whisper and trade secrets like little girls, and now that stranger-boy-person is practically barking in Squall's face. He's going on that you guys do know him, that you have to know him, that he's the Keyblade master and that you, Yuffie, _you're_ The Great Ninja, and _c'mon, we fought the Heartless together!_ and whoa baby, hold up there! This kid's the Keyblade master? You crack a smile, and you see Squall let out a sigh of relief because he must be what Aerith was talking about, and wow, the Keyblade master! This boy will help you save the worlds, but he's yelling _no, we already saved the worlds, Yuffie!_ but you're just laughing and hah, the Keyblade really chose a looney this time, huh?

If his voice wasn't breaking earlier, then it definitely is now. His brows are distastefully knitted together and his eyes are shining with unshed tears but he's still babbling on. Well, the thing is, whatever he's babbling on about, it never happened. You've never dragged him to the Hotel the first time Squall beaten him unconscious. You've never clarified mumbo jumbo Keyblade explanations to him. You've especially never helped him seal the keyhole in Hollow Bastion — hey, you can't even stand saying those two words anymore. Bottom line is, those things have never happened, you have never met him, and if you did, which you _didn't_, you certainly don't remember.

The only things you'll probably ever remember are the creases in his frown, the tears in his eyes, the pain ringing from his voice and the hurt plastered onto his face. And maybe, just maybe, the name that lingered on the tip of your tongue.

SORA.

It just rolls off so naturally you start to think that you must be made to say it. His name. _His _name. It's ringing in the air and that duck and that dog and that kid, that _Sora_ kid, is surprised, because if you claim you don't remember him, then you're not supposed to know his name. Why do you know his name? Squall seems to know his name too — it isn't a mere coincidence.

You notice that Squall actually looks pretty shaky, and for a moment you're a little shaky yourself, but with quick ninja reflexes you just play it off. You play it off as if a Heartless gave you a tiny teeny scratch, that's it, no big deal, and _BAM!_ In an instant you wipe all sudden hope off of that little teenage face of his, just like you would instantly wipe out that Heartless with one toss of a shuriken. But you can't stop there, because playing it off just isn't going to be enough — you have to take it to the next level. You trick yourself into thinking, _oh well, he _does _look like a Sora,_ but deep in your heart you just have to know that he is Sora. He's _the_ Sora. Even if you'll never realize it, ever.

So let's just end this right here, because you know what? You won't everrealize it, because you're a fake. You're a fabrication. A figment of his imagination.

Just a piece of his memory.

But you don't know that, so you just keep on letting him hurt for the while.

**---**

this is for **n**inja-**b**utterfliie's  
**bring it back** ( **old school **)  
CHALLENGE.

;D


End file.
